i found this post on the arXiv today, under "differential geometry." the abstract is curiously amusing, especially the last sentence:
The material is presented as a sequence of problems, which is peculiar not only to Zen monasteries but also to elite mathematical education (at least in Russia).
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It's pretty amusing indeed. First I misunderstood the quoted sentence and thought that it meant the problems are peculiar to both Zen monasteries and elite mathematical education at least in Russia (in Soviet Russia mathematics studies YOU! :) ). Then I looked inside and found that the article itself is in Russian (with a page that looks like a seminar announcement attached at the beginning), contains only the problems (with short commentaries and hints) not counting short introductory text titled "What For", and it got to me. Here's an excerpt from the "What For" section in my (awkward) translation:
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The style of the exposition presented here conforms to the spirit of C.F. Gauss (and other pioneers), who had been studying a lot of applications and turned one part of geography into this mathematical field. This 'from simpler to harder' exposition and in the form close to how the theory was originally developed continues the oral tradition which was started by Laozi and Plato and which was set as a basic principle of stating philosophy by Hegel, and which is represented in modern mathematical literature by, for example, Pólya's books and Quant magazine.
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I wish I studied it that way...
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